Plans are on track for £8m Metro training hub for South Shields

Verity Ward

A new £8m training centre in South Tyneside is one step closer to becoming a reality as plans are given the green light.

Metro bosses revealed their plans for a multi-million-pound training centre in South Shields earlier this year.

Nexus new Metro plans'Salem Street

It’s hoped railway skills centre will be built in South Shields town centre - if a £7million funding bid is successful.

The centre would be used as the training base for more than 1,000 people who work on Metro, including contractors involved in the £350million modernisation of the urban rail system, which is used by 40 million passengers a year.

South Tyneside Council’s planning department has granted Nexus approval for its outline plans.

Director of rail and infrastructure at Nexus, Raymond Johnstone, said: “I’m pleased that our plans for a new rail skills centre at Mile End Road have received outline planning permission.

We will now seek a design and build contract.

Raymond Johnstone

“We will now seek a design and build contract from a supplier and take these plans back to the council.

“The scheme will then be subject to final funding approval from the Government’s Local Growth Fund.

“The new skills centre would allow us to raise the standard of training we offer to Metro staff, contractors, and industry partners.

“The site in South Shields offers an excellent location on the existing Metro network. The town centre is already enjoying major regeneration through South Tyneside Council’s 365 Masterplan and we are partners in building a new transport interchange.”

The skills centre would be built around existing Metro sidings, between Mile End Road and Salem Street in South Shields, on the site of the town’s original railway station, which was closed as the Metro line was built in the early 1980s.